HHS Determination Concerning a Petition to Add Members to the 

Special Exposure Cohort 

under the 

Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 

Determination Concerning a Petition for Employees from
 

Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Upton, New York 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Determination: 

Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 
 

I. Determination 

I, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, have determined 

that the employees defined in Section II of this report do not meet the statutory criteria for addition to 

the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC), as authorized under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 

Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA), 42 U.S.C. § 7384q.

 [Signature on File] June 7, 2013

 Kathleen Sebelius Date 

II. Employee Class Definition 

All employees of the Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, 

and its contractors and subcontractors who worked at Brookhaven 

National Laboratory in Upton, New York, from January 1, 1994, to 

December 31, 2007. 

III. Decision Criteria and Recommendations 

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, to designate a class for addition to the SEC, the Secretary must 

determine, upon recommendation of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (Board), 

that: 

(1) it is not feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose that the class received; 

and 

(2) there is a reasonable likelihood that such radiation dose may have endangered the health of 

members of the class. 

The SEC final rule states in 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1) that it is feasible in two situations to estimate the 

radiation dose that the class received with sufficient accuracy. First, the rule states that radiation 

doses may be estimated with sufficient accuracy if the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 

Health (NIOSH) has established that it has access to sufficient information to estimate the maximum 

radiation dose for every type of cancer for which radiation doses are reconstructed that could have 

been incurred under plausible circumstances by any member of the class. Alternatively, radiation 

doses may be estimated with sufficient accuracy if NIOSH has established that it has access to 

sufficient information to estimate the radiation doses of members of the class more precisely than a 

maximum dose estimate. NIOSH determined that it has access to sufficient site-specific information 

to reconstruct radiation doses incurred by the class of employees covered by this report with sufficient 

accuracy. 

In a letter received by the Secretary on May 8, 2013, the Board, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, 

agreed with the following NIOSH findings, effectively advising the Secretary that radiation dose can 

be reconstructed with sufficient accuracy for employees at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in 

Upton, New York, in accordance with provisions of EEOICPA and the SEC final rule. 

IV. Determination Findings 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Determination: 

Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 

Page 1 
 

 

Feasibility of Estimating Radiation Doses with Sufficient Accuracy 

The Secretary established the feasibility determination for the class of employees covered by this 

report based upon the findings summarized below. 

	 Principal sources of internal and external radiation exposures for members of the proposed class 

included exposures to a wide array of radionuclides, which could have occurred during the 

performance of reactor or accelerator operations, or the performance of research and development 

activities at the site. 

	 NIOSH has access to bioassay results or sufficient area monitoring to support personnel internal 

exposure assessments associated with all radionuclides at BNL from January 1, 1994, through 

December 31, 2007. 

	 NIOSH finds that it is feasible to estimate, with sufficient accuracy, the total internal dose for 

workers at BNL during the period from January 1, 1994, through December 31, 2007. 

	 NIOSH has access to sufficient personnel monitoring and workplace monitoring data to bound 

potential external exposures for workers at BNL during the period from January 1, 1947, through 

December 31, 2007. NIOSH also finds it is feasible to reconstruct occupational medical dose for 

this period. Consequently, NIOSH finds that it is feasible to estimate, with sufficient accuracy, 

the total external dose and occupational medical dose for the class of employees covered by this 

evaluation. 

	 In sum, NIOSH determined that it has access to sufficient site-specific information to either (1) 

estimate the maximum internal and external radiation dose for every type of cancer for which 

radiation doses are reconstructed that could have been incurred under plausible circumstances by 

any workers at BNL for the time period from January 1, 1994, through December 31, 2007; or (2) 

estimate the internal and external radiation doses to workers at BNL for the time period from 

January 1, 1994, through December 31, 2007, more precisely than a maximum dose estimate. 

	 The Board concurred with NIOSH's determination that that dose reconstruction is 

feasible for the class of BNL workers covered by Petition 00113 for the period from 

January 1, 1994, to December 31, 2007, and therefore should not be added to the 

SEC. 

Health Endangerment 

Because the Secretary established that it is feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy the radiation 

doses encountered by employees at the BNL in Upton, New York, as specified in this class, a 

determination of health endangerment is not required. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Determination: 

Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 

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V. Effect of the Determination 

Members of the class of employees covered by this determination and their survivors continue to be 

eligible to submit claims for compensation under EEOICPA. As required for cancer claims covering 

other DOE and Atomic Weapons Employer employees (or Atomic Weapons Employees) not included 

in the SEC, qualified cancer claims under Part B of EEOICPA for members of this class will be 

adjudicated by the Department of Labor, in part on the basis of radiation dose reconstructions which 

will be conducted by NIOSH. 

VI. Administrative Review of Determination 

The determination provided in this report may be subject to an administrative review within HHS, 

pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.18(a). On the basis of such a review, if the Secretary decides to designate 

the class of employees covered by this determination, in part or in whole, as an addition to the SEC, 

the Secretary would transmit a new report to Congress providing the designation and the criteria and 

findings on which the decision was based. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Determination: 

Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 

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